Waltz

Enterprise Architecture on the Wire

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Topics

  • Part 1: Waltz overview

  • Part 2: Open Source challenges / rewards

Background

  • Waltz: an Enterprise Information System

  • Approx. 6 yrs old (started as pure OSS)

  • 3-4 devs

    • incl. NWM

  • Transitioned to FINOS earlier this year

  • Several thousand users in DB

  • Gaining users in other financial institutions and other industries

NWM Press Release

nwm press

Deutsche Bank Press Release

db press

FINOS Press Release

finos press

Overview

  • Catalogue of the enterprise technical portfolio / landscape

  • Mapping current state and increasingly looking towards future state

  • Widely used by diverse set of users

Opinionated

  • Strict data model

    • Applications, Taxonomies, Data flows & Data types

    • Organisational Units, People, Change Initiatives & Roadmaps

    • Servers, Databases, Software & Licenses

  • As opposed to weaker schemas:

    • Entity / Attribute / Relationship

Customisation

  • …​but we do have some extension capabilities

    • Assessments

    • Metrics

    • Surveys

    • Notes

Aggregate views

  • Dynamic groups based on traits

  • Ad hoc group creation

  • Automated groups

Basic flows

flows

Taxonomies

taxonomies

Drawing flow diagrams

diag

Approach

Embodies an open approach to enterprise architecture

  • Permissive

    • Better to have many eyes / crowd sourced data than to have a few guardians

  • Promote standardisation

    • Perhaps allow cross bank standards

Uses

  • Data architecture: lineage (BCBS), auth sources

  • (Regulatory) Compliance

    • GDPR, Records Management, Legal Holds

  • SDLC & KPI’s / KRI’s

    • Platform adoption, standard adherence

  • App rationalisation, function decomms, migrations, roadmaps

Open Source

Open Source & the Enterprise

Observations are mine, not those of my client

Basics

  • Ensure CCLA’s in place

  • If you want people to adopt, shift to open dev

    • Use accessible issue trackers

    • Don’t want your project commit log to be 'just a bunch of stuff that happened'

    • Isolate any non OSS components (e.g. databases)

Challenges

  • Test data is hard!

  • Need to be v. careful with commits

    • Extra review step for data leakage concerns

  • IP concerns extend to design docs and issue descriptions

Challenges (cont.)

  • Project pressures

    • Long term roadmap vs short term tactical needs of funding company

    • Stakeholders not always sympathetic to doing the 'right thing' for everyone

  • Lack of commercial support

    • Barrier to adoption by smaller orgs

Support

  • Abundance of very good project support:

    • Building, Testing

    • Quality, Security

  • Usually extremely easy to onboard and use

  • FINOS offer support and guidance

Thanks for listening